Hi All,

First post, request to ignore some stupid mistake if any

Date of Contravention: 24/11/2013 (Sunday)
PCN issued on 24/11/2013
Challenged on 27/11/2013
Council Reply on 20/01/2014
NTO: 04/02/2014



The Story: Went to watch movie with my wife, parked in shared parking bay (signage vandalised (image attached) , with parking ticket for 2:30 hours ( however we were late and saw parking ticket on the windscreen)

is there any chance I can get this cancelled of would it be good to pay-it-off ? what they are saying is it doesn't matter if one sign is vandalised I could have looked else where, I am noot sure would that relate to specific parking bay?

pics:

PCN


Challenge:


Challenge reply


NTO:



Vandalised Sign Images:



Parking ticket:



Thanks In Advance
Mo

How did you purchase a ticket for 2.5 hours when the max. period allowed is 2 hours?

Ahh!! point, I guess the Machine said can buy for Max 3 hours. I may need to go back and check. As I paid £4.50 (shown on the ticket), thanks for pointing out though!

And as the authority seem to place (wrongly) such emphasis on what instructions are conveyed on the m/c, what if these and those on the sign differ??

But let's see what you unearth.

Hi Guys,

Went back to check today, The machine does say maximum 2 hours @ £2.80 per hour and mentions controlled Hours Mon -Sun 9:00 to 20:00, (images attached) on ticket it says paid for £4:50 that means I may have paid for just over 1 hour I guess.

By saying that, what I noticed is the signs are still vandalised (image attached), since Nov when first photo was taken. Also the vandalised part is where is say Mon- Sun which is not visible.( however its there on the Machine)

Is there any chance I will be able to fight back? or pay the £80 assuming it as a lost battle with no strong grounds?

Thanks in Advance

Still can't follow your account, I'm afraid.

M/c don't apply expiry times pro rata i.e. if it's £2.80 per hour and you pay £5, you get 1 hour. You might get 1 hr 30 minutes possibly.

You paid £4.50 which would have given you 1 hour, or perhaps 1hr 30 minutes. And yet you say you parked, bought the ticket, walked to the cinema, saw a film from start to finish, which might have overrun, and still returned to the vehicle just outside 1 hr 30 mins max. Pretty short film.

But back to the NTO, you haven't got the discount and so you might just as well make reps and hope the council will re-offer the discount. Remember, this is the first time you would have made reps as owner (when you challenged, you did this as the driver, not the owner). So make your argument as you did before.

Hi hcandersen,

Thanks for looking into this, I didn't mean that I didn't ran over time! As per the Ticket validity on the dashboard I did come back after the ticket was expired ( movie approx 1:45 to 2 hrs )

My Argument with them is the Sign are vandalised and it does not say when to park and when to not? i.e MON to SUN is vandalised, so the sign does not give me full information (it could have been Mon to Fri )

other signs are on different parking bay but this was sandalone paking bay just for 2 cars. so I would assume that signs could differ from various bays? (I don't know)

if I didn't have paid ticket on my Dashboard would I be able be able to get away with parking there (on above grounds)? if yes then this ticket is not valid for where I parked as sign is missing the days when can I park there for Free or with ticket ( if that makes sense )

On NTO ( I am the driver on dads car driving that night) so should I still make rep as Driver or write it on his behalf as the owner ?


Thanks

Hmm. My gut feeling is that you don't have very strong grounds for a successful appeal. You have only shown one page of their rejection letter, but I bet they have re-offered the discount. I would very carefully consider whether you really acted without error in buying a ticket. FWIW, I don't think a PATAS adjudicator will consider the "vandalised" sign as something to swing things in your favour.

It's your decision, but I would think paying the discount might be the best action.